Recovery to Mormonism

Joseph Smith

In 1820, when Joseph Smith Jr. was fourteen, he did not know which church to join—there were many and all offered salvation and all claimed to truth.  Since he could not know on his own power, Joseph Smith turned to God in prayer.  In response, he received a vision of God the Father and, his Son, Jesus Christ.  In the vision, he learned that no church was true and that he should therefore not join any of them. 

This would be the first of many visions.  The Angel Moroni would later appear to Joseph and Joseph Smith would recover an ancient record on gold plates.  This would be translated by inspiration into the Book of Mormon—another testament of Jesus Christ.

After the Book of Mormon was published, the Lord instructed Joseph Smith to organize the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (then called the Church of Christ.  The name would be officially changed to the one used now in 1838).  The organization meeting was held on the sixth of April, 1830.  Sixty people attended and six members were listed at the meeting, making the Church official by the rules of New York.  These six members were witnesses of the gold plates and had testimonies of Joseph Smith as a prophet of God, and of the new church as Christ’s restored one.

Missionaries (the early precursors of today’s Mormon missionaries—same message, if the Church was far smaller then) were sent out almost immediately, carrying copies of the Book of Mormon.  Congregations were formed in New York and Ohio.  The persecution in New York was such that the Lord instructed Joseph Smith to move the Church to Ohio.  A number of Saints (often called Mormons) went to Missouri as well.  Leaving New York represented a great sacrifice, but more than two hundred members of the Church followed the call.

In Kirtland, Ohio, Joseph Smith received many revelations—many very important revelations.  These revelations covered such things as how the Church ought to be organized (what shape its government ought to take) and the building of the first temple (which was completed, if it would later have to be abandoned).  These revelations also covered (among many other topics) tithing, the Word of Wisdom (the Mormon dietary code), and the three kingdoms of heaven.

The Mormons would be driven from both Ohio and Missouri.  Nauvoo, Illinois was the next place that the Saints would congregate.  This city was actually established by the Mormons and grew to about 20,000 people within four years. 

Missionaries had spread to Europe, as well as wider portions of the United States.  Converts flocked back to Nauvoo. 

And, here, another Mormon temple would be constructed and more revelations would be received regarding the purpose of temples.  The Lord would reveal to Joseph Smith such essential temple ordinances as the endowment and sealing (often called temple marriages).  This time period was also marked by the organization of the Relief Society and the publishing of the Book of Abraham.

But persecution did not stop.  At one point, a press within Nauvoo began to print material against the Church—the kind of material that may have stirred up ready mobs.  The Nauvoo city council decided to have the press destroyed—which it was.  The governor of Illinois insisted that the members of the city council stand trial for the disturbance, and before a non-Mormon jury.

While the charge itself was fair enough (destroying the press had precedence in other towns, but was not strictly legal), Joseph Smith believed and prophesied that by submitting to the trial, he would die.  Anti-Mormon sentiment was fatally high.  But, for the sake of his Church, and his family, he submitted.  He would describe this as “going like a lamb to the slaughter.”

On June 27, 1844, a mob of about 200 men stormed the Carthage jail, where Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were being held.  Also present were John Taylor and Willard Richards.  Bullets flew through the room.  Joseph returned fire and shot and wounded two men.  His brother was hit and fell dead.  John Taylor was also hit and wounded.  Joseph Smith took to the window, was hit twice, and fell, exclaiming “Oh Lord my God!”

John Taylor would later write: “Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. … He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated! … They lived for glory; they died for glory; and glory is their eternal reward.”1
(1) D&C 135:3,6